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COOKBOOK UPDATE: I am happy to announce that the spiral bound Blue Belle Inn B&B and Tea House Cookbook with color tabs is now available!!
The price is $25 each. If you buy 5 or more, the price will drop to $20 each. I have some appearances set up so you can buy my novels (Highland Heather and Sea Shell Ginger), and Blue Belle Inn Cookbooks (and hopefully taste a sample recipe from the cookbook.) May 9th 4 – 6 pm – St. Ansgar Nissen Library, May 11th 6 pm – Northwood Public Library, and June 8th 3 -5 pm -Thompson Public Library. I will announce others once dates are set. Kindle, Paperback, and Hardcover versions are available at Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C1J4L8T3 If you want a spiral bound cookbook with color tabs, they are available at Sweet Reads in Austin, MN, or Thymeless Treasures in Saint Ansgar.
I am also happy…
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For those who our interested in our wild 2022, here are the highlights:
January – After working hard to recover from her broken back, losing all kinds of weight and going to physical therapy all year, Sherrie was discouraged to learn her heart was clogged up. She had three stents put in her heart on 12/30/2021 and was back at work the next day. She added cardiac therapy to her physical therapy regimen.
February – Sherrie celebrated her 65th birthday and 30 years at the Blue Belle Inn. We enjoyed a short trip to Florida, and found a vintage motel just across from the Gulf on North Reddington Beach. We love walking on the beach, picking up seashells, photographing the sunset, and swimming. On Valentine’s Day, Sherrie hosted her ever first Tasting Menu with many happy customers attending.
March – Mark announced he would retire from “full-time” ministry as pastor at Zion, Hudson at the end of June. We went through the “last-times” with meaningful Lent and Easter season services, confirmation classes, and Vacation Bible School.
April – Sherrie sent HIGHLAND HEATHER, her new Scottish mystery, out into the world to rave reviews. After much prayer and discussion, we contacted a Realtor and put the Blue Belle Inn up for sale. Facing uncertainty as to where we would be going, Mark interviewed for a part-time call as pastor of Sion Lutheran Church, LCMC, rural Lake Mills, Iowa.
May – We accepted an offer on the Blue Belle, with a closing date just a few weeks away. Frantic packing ensues at two of our 4 homes. Dozens of guests were eager to eat and stay at the Blue Belle one last time. Sherrie worked double time trying to keep up. Sion extended a call to Mark to become a part-time pastor, preaching three Sundays per month. On Mother’s Day, while Mark was driving and Sherrie was on the phone to her mother, an uninsured motorist rear-ended us and totaled our Subaru. We now have no car and no place to move. We found our next car in North Dakota, and checked out an acreage that was up for auction. On the day of the auction, Sherrie had 20 people coming for lunch. They all prayed for God’s will to be done. When Mark came home, he had won the auction and we were the owners of a three bedroom home on five acres near a beautiful marsh, with two barns and other outbuildings, just three miles from our new church, a mile from a lovely lake where we love watching sunsets.
June – Moving started by preparing our home in rural Worth County (new paint inside and out, new flooring, new toilet, and a new well for starters). We said goodbye to the Zion congregation after ten and a half years along with dear friends and Blue Belle customers of up to 30 years.
July – Mark received a warm welcome at Sion. Sherrie wowed them with her piano playing. Moving was in full swing, with wonderful helpers to aid in the humongous task. Mark’s knee replacement surgery was postponed for the first time. A blessing in disguise? There was (still is?) so much to do. We continued to spend 2-3 days a week in Hudson, packing up the parsonage and made many trips to St. Ansgar to check in guests and clean Anne’s House, which we still owned.
August – We used our first “Sunday-off” to take a short trip to Wisconsin to hear the Red Hot Chilli Pipers at Irish Fest in Milwaukee and visit Amish country.
September – We headed to California for Mark’s 50-year high school reunion with sightseeing and visits to friends and family in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Nevada, and California squeezed in.
October – Anne’s House of Dreams sold and the loss of so many sweet moments and memories finally hit Sherrie. We closed on 40 acres of the original Hansen homestead. We listed our “cottage” in St. Ansgar which remains unsold. Mark’s knee replacement surgery was postponed a second time. Sherrie served 68 pumpkin dinners at our new home, reconnecting with faithful customers and thanking those who helped us move.
November – Mark’s knee replacement surgery went well. He began a period of recovery and physical therapy. Sherrie wrote 65,000 words for her NaNoWriMo project, SEA SHELL GINGER, a mystery set in Florida, and finished the rough draft soon after. Now on to edits!
December – Sherrie continues her nightly prayer and piano time on Facebook – a great way to ward off anxiety, encourage others, and give our burdens to the Lord. We are finally feeling settled in our new, much smaller home, although there are still many boxes to unpack. It’s time to decorate for Christmas but there is no room at the new Inn. Every inch is already full. A Christmas program at Sion accentuates our strengths – little ones who are adorable sheep (baaa) and shining stars (“Follow me!”) – and an entire cast of enthusiastic adults. Our oldest is an 89 year old wise man, our youngest, a 5 month old Baby Jesus, with many ages and talents represented in between.
It’s been quite a year! Not unlike an intense game of monopoly…
We have learned over and over that God makes beautiful things out of broken pieces. He brings joy out of despair and gives hope to the brokenhearted.
God makes all things beautiful in His time.
Thanks to all of you – friends and family – who have prayed us through this year of upheaval and transition. We love you all!
Love, Mark and Sherrie
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I know many of you have already heard the news, but since I am still continuing to get phone calls asking for lunch and room reservations, I want to do what I can to spread the word… After 30 years at the Blue Belle Inn B&B and Tea House, I recently sold the property, closed the business, and moved to a north Iowa acreage near my husband’s new church. It’s been an interesting transition and “redefining” the ways I spend my days has been a challenge with mixed blessings. It’s been a busy few months moving out of 4 houses and downsizing to one fairly small ranch style house on our new acreage. Of course, I’m having fun decorating our new space. We enjoy being surrounded by our cherished mementoes and treasures, but trying to find room for all the things we thought we needed to save continues to be difficult.
I continue to enjoy cooking for family and friends, hosting tea parties for my great nieces and nephews, writing novels (I’m currently working on Sea Shell Ginger, set in Florida), photographing the sun setting over the lake at the wildlife area that’s less than a mile from our new house, playing the piano at our new church, traveling the world (Scotland last September and the West from Colorado to California this September), reconnecting with old friends, and making new ones, too.
My focus once we get past the moving blues will be on writing and hopefully, doing a better job of promoting my novels. For those of you not familiar with my writing career, my debut book, Night and Day, was released in 2009. I now have 15 novels and a novella in print including Love Notes, the Maple Valley trilogy (Stormy Weather, Water Lily, and Merry Go Round), and my Wildflowers of Scotland novels (Thistle Down, Wild Rose, Blue Belle, Shy Violet, Sweet William and Golden Rod), as well as Daybreak, the long-awaited sequel to Night and Day, and four recent mysteries – Seaside Daisy, set in Ireland, Plum Tart Iris, set in Czechia, and Ragged Robin and Highland Heather, set in Scotland.
In November, I’ll be doing NaNoWriMo once again, which involves writing about 1650 words a day for 30 days for a total of 50,000 words. I’ve already got a good start on Sea Shell Ginger, set on St. Pete’s Beach in Florida, and hope to finish the rough draft by the end of the month. Next on the list is a sequel to Highland Heather called Alpine Meadow. And, this winter, I’ll be releasing the long-promised Blue Belle Inn Cookbook.
If any of you “retired” people have any advice for someone in my position, let me know! Life is good, and one thing that I’ve already learned is that afternoon naps are a wonderful thing. For those of you who have been cheering me along already, I appreciate your continued prayers as I continue to redefine my new life.
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What a wonderful event!
It was a beautiful couple days at a beautiful setting soaking in the Word of God and enjoying each other’s company.
The Blue Belle Inn Bed & Breakfast in St. Ansgar, Iowa, recently provided a relaxing backdrop for a rejuvenating getaway for our Bible Art Journaling Mini Retreat.
After a few ice breaker activities, we joined proprietor, Sherrie Hansen, for some worship singing and a special Celtic prayer circle lesson. We were even part of her daily prayer time on her Facebook LIVE episode for the evening!
We followed a light supper with some creative T-shirt painting. My friend, and charter member of my first Bible Art Journaling group, Mijean, designed our shirts; and we have enjoyed making the activity of painting them a regular experience during our annual retreats the last couple years. There is just something so relaxing about painting and then selecting that special scripture to…
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So, having seen that I’ve just written a new book titled Ragged Robin, you might be wondering, what is a Ragged Robin?
Depending on where you look, you might find your search for Ragged Robin to include a tiny seaside gift shop, a flute and harp duo that plays Irish traditional music, a nutty, time-traveling cartoon character from the Invisibles, a carnival glass pattern, a quaint café in Australia, a niche jewelry shop, a British landscaping, floral or wreath-making shop, a unique line of designer clothing, an Etsy shoppe filled wth handmade, heartfilled products for your nest, a book of poetry, or one of Cicely M. Barker’s’s fairy flower illustrations.
But because you know me and my penchant for writing books about windflowers, in this case, you would look to marshy places, damp meadows, marshes, fens and wet woods–in Scotland.
In wet marshy meadows
A tattered piper strays—
Ragged, ragged Robin;
On thin reeds he plays.
He asks for no payment;
He plays, for delight,
A tune for the fairies
To dance to, at night.
They nod and they whisper,
And say, looking wise,
“A princeling is Robin,
For all his disguise!”
Poem by Cicely M. Barker
(Except my Robin would be playing a tune for the Selkies to dance to on midsummer’s night. Now you might be wondering, what is a Selkie? But that’s a tale for another day.)
Now, back to Ragged Robin, the wildflower… With much-divided petals of lavender-pink, this robust, disheveled beauty of a wildflower might be a bit ragged around the edges, but its delicately-fringed, ragged blossoms are perfect to withstand windy weather. Known for its deeply cleft, feathery petals, ragged robin flowers from late May to early August, and is one of the prettiest to be found in boggy ground, transforming the flat brown bog in early summer.
Much-loved by bees and butterflies, it is dedicated to St. Barnabas because hay-making took place around his Feast Day on June 11 and Ragged Robin could be found amongst the hay. In Shakespeare’s time it was known as Crowflower and is one of the flowers in Ophelia’s garland. In the Victorian language of flowers, it symbolizes ardour, aversion, and wit.
In an ironic twist given the seaside setting of my book, Ragged Robin, the plant contains saponins, a soap substitute that can be used for washing clothes, hair etc. Although generally not harmful to humans, saponins are much more toxic to some creatures, such as fish, and pose a potential danger to aquatic life. (Just one small example of how my Robin was misunderstood by his family…) Hunting tribes in days of old were even known to put large quantities of the flowers in streams, lakes etc in order to stupefy or kill fish. (Sounds like shades of Die Droge to me… And now, you might be wondering what is Die Droge? To find out, you will have to read Ragged Robin.)
Another feature of the wildflower, be it good or bad, is that Ragged Robin can be very hard to keep down. If you want to rid an area of ragged robin for good, it will require patience and determination and will require removing all traces of the plant matter, since any plant matter missed will result in new growth. Missed plant matter can sprout months after you thought you removed the ragged robin. (Springs back from adversity– just one trait my readers will love about Ragged Robin.)
So, if you like a man known for his ardour, and his aversion to evil, lies and injustice, with a good dose of wit about him, you’ll love Ragged Robin. Available now in paperback, Kindle, or Kindle Unlimited versions from Amazon. Just click on Ragged Robin. I’ll have copies at the Blue Belle Inn the first week of June.
RAGGED ROBIN…When a deadly virus ravages the seafood population off the coast of Scotland, the townsfolk of Portree, Isle of Skye, are devastated. Charter boat captain Robin Murphy and café owner Becca Ronan stumble upon evidence that ties the contamination to a pharmaceutical company, thrusting them into a tangled net of mystery. Robin fears—Becca hopes—the Selkies, if they’re real, hold the key. Robin says his priority is finding a cure, but the seal folk he’s befriended on his getaway isle have stolen his heart. Becca’s long-lost father and free-spirited mother may save the day…or bring down the ship. As Robin and Becca search for the truth and struggle to keep their businesses afloat, everything is at risk–their love, their beliefs–even their lives.
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Mark and I only send Christmas letters to those who send them to us, so if you use the same system, this is your only chance to see what we included in our Christmas Letter for 2020.
Dear Friends and Family:
Amid the many disappointments of 2020, we make adjustments while continuing to be thankful and have hope for the future.
The year began with what has become our regular continuing education experience, the Abundant Life Summit in Fountain Hills, Arizona. As we waited at the Phoenix airport for our flight home, the big news was the first few cases of COVID-19 being noticed locally. We had cut our time in Arizona short because of a large private party scheduled at the Blue Belle, which ended up being cancelled at the last minute. Little did we know it would be the first of many bookings, special events, mystery dinners, and trips to be cancelled in 2020.
Like everyone else, our lives were greatly impacted by the pandemic. Although we both had the memorable experience of dealing with kidney stones in 2020, so far, we are thankful to report that neither of us have been infected with the virus.
For Sherrie, the Blue Belle Inn was without any overnight guests for two months – something that has never happened before in the 29 years she has been open. We are grateful for her loyal customers (many of whom we are happy to call friends) who found ways to support the business as she re-opened with limited seating for dining and many more take-out orders than she’s ever had. She has come to appreciate the new demands of being a “short order cook” and greatly enjoys the pleasant crew of people she has as her staff members as business begins to trickle in once again.
Mark continues as pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in rural Hudson, Iowa, now completing his ninth year. He finds great fulfillment in the ministry there. Although the church never “closed” we have greatly adjusted how we do things. We switched to putting our services on Facebook Live, when we couldn’t have worship with people inside the building. While we continue those internet postings, we are blessed to have a faithful group of in-person worship participants. What a surprise it has been to see people from well beyond our regular membership viewing these services online.
Sherrie published her 14th novel, Plum Tart Iris, set in the Bohemian Alps of the Czech Republic and is nearly finished with her next book, Ragged Robin, set on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. She started posting a daily prayer time on Facebook Live to pray for our country, and friends and acquaintances going through rough times because of the virus, playing a song on the keyboard each day – another big adjustment for someone who has always been shy about having her picture taken and playing the piano by herself.
Mark was able play golf more often than in previous summers. Although part of that involved a trade-off of devoting less energy to his other hobby of repairing old bicycles, getting outside in the fresh air has been positive. He wore short pants so often, that he actually had tan-lines for the first time in many years.
As we look ahead to 2021, we pray you may all have a year blessed with love and health. We are hopeful that we will finally get to go back to Europe this spring, and that some of the frustrations we dealt with in 2020 will be worked out eventually. Because we know that’s what God does! We continue to believe that God works all things together for good. As Sherrie likes to say, God makes beautiful things out of broken pieces.
Love to all of you,
Mark and Sherrie
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We only went on one trip this year – a quick visit to Arizona for an Abundant Life conference just before the pandemic struck. We spent as much time hiking as we could and saw several beautiful sunsets.
Since the remaining trips we had scheduled for 2020 were cancelled, I’m going to take a look at some of my favorite sunsets from past years. And of course, some of the best sunsets are found close to home.
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What the heck, you’re probably asking, is FOMO?
I recently participated in an online experience called Re: United States of America, a weekend long discussion between people from different parts of the world (primarily Iowa and California in this case), of different ethnic, cultural, and political persuasions. Thanks to organizer, Ben Caron, it was amazing to find support, encouragement and acceptance from the intentional exploring of the things we share in common instead of our differences.
One of my take-aways from the weekend was the word/acronym FOMO. Being an old person from Iowa, I had to ask my California counterpart what it meant, and was told it stands for the Fear Of Missing Out. At the time it was used, I was participating in something called a Human Library, where one person in the room is a “book” who shared a phenomenon called Burning Man. As a “reader”, I listed to his account and asked questions to learn about something new. He said the people who attend the Burning Man event, which covers acres and acres of land in the Nevada desert, are overwhelmed with FOMO because no matter how hard they try, there are not enough waking hours to cover enough ground to see and do all there is to experience.
Common ground found: I immediately thought of our trips to Scotland and France and Czechia and the fact that while we try to plan relaxing and restorative vacations, we routinely fall into the trap of franticly attempting to squeeze a million things into every day we’re in the county. Fully acknowledging that we probably won’t ever walk this way again due to time constraints and a limited travel budget, we don’t want to miss out on anything. It’s our one and only chance – and even if it kills us, we’re going to see and do everything in the area! And that’s the things we know about – by the time we take in the quaint, unexpected wonders we stumble upon along the journey, by the time we return home, we’ve typically walked a good 7-10 miles a day for three solid weeks.
I also thought about my Grandma Victoria, Grandma Hansen, and my Dad in the weeks and months before they died. Yes, they knew they were going to a better place, but it was tremendously hard for each of them, and I’m sure others in the end years of their lives, to know that they were going to miss a grandchild’s visit or a family gathering or an upcoming wedding – to know that everyone would be there except them. I feel quite certain that FOMO, the Fear Of Missing Out, keeps a lot of people alive well past their expected time here on earth.
We all have once in a lifetime experiences. It’s completely understandable that we don’t want to miss a single second of what’s going on. For the three years I lived in Germany, and the twelve years I lived in Colorado, it was hard for me to miss out on things back home even though I was able to enjoy dozens of things I never would have gotten to do had I stayed in Minnesota. Because I didn’t have the time or money to fly home every time something fun or significant happened, I had to make choices. I made new memories in those years I couldn’t go home for Thanksgiving when I roasted a turkey and hosted other singles and folks who had no family in Colorado Springs to a Thanksgiving potluck at my house. The next year, when I did go home, I felt bad to miss out on the special time I shared with my friends the year before. I keep waiting for technoloigy to catch up with Star Trek so I can beam wherever I want to go in the world and back again at whim. But until then…
FOMO is both a great motivator and a sticky wicket. We’ve all missed out on a lot of things during the pandemic. Senior proms, year-end concerts, dream weddings, long awaited vacations, county fairs, sports events, Easter Sunday services, family gatherings, precious time with loved ones While there’s no way to get those special times back, we have a choice – we can dispel FOMO – along with other types of fear – and find hope for the future. We can open up our hearts and dream about what is to come – the places we’ll be blessed to to go, the things we’ll most certainly see and do.
We can begin to dream about the adventures and possibilities that are waiting for us just down the road.
When we finally get to go back to Scotland next year (thinking positively here), I’m sure I’ll be hit with a fresh case of FOMO as I wind my way back and forth across the county, taking in every castle, garden, seaside village, and bagpipe event I possibly can. In the meantime, I’m trying to get my houses in order, my next book finished, and do all that I can do – just in case I die of COVID. Because, well, FOMO, of course.
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Someone once told me that one great way to restart your brain is to take a shower. I’ve had it happen more than once. I’m working at the computer with whatever I’m working on open on the screen and I can’t think of a thing to write. No matter how hard I try, nothing comes. Then, I get in the shower, with no way to write anything down, and no sooner does the water start to rain down on me than the voices of my characters start to jabber inside my head and new plotlines magically form.
Over the years, I’ve learned that a vacation – especially one to a far off destination – can have the same effect, only in a much more profound way. Here’s what seems to happen when I take a trip, and how to enjoy a traveling adventure that refreshes both brain and body.
1. Let go of expectations. Anything can happen on a vacation. I like to plan our trips and enjoy researching places to eat and stay, as well as things to see and do, but I’ve also learned that it’s fairly impossible to predict what will happen on any given day, how long it will take to get from Point A to Point B, and what things we might encounter along the way. Once I let go of my stubborn insistence that things have to be a certain way, it’s amazing what can happen!
- Forget about staying focused and enjoy the distractions. You may not be able to tell it from looking at my house (creative minds are rarely tidy as the old saying goes), but I’m a highly organized person, at least when it comes to my professional life. I make lists and cross things off when they’re done. I thrive under deadlines. I plan events with an intricate timeline based on what things I can do ahead down to the tasks that have to be done at the last minute. When I go on a trip, it’s a challenge and a pleasure to be able to relax and realize that nothing matters but having fun.
- Open your mind to new ideas, possibilities. It’s kind of sad, the way I go to the same restaurants and order the same exact foods and wear the same few shirts and skirts until they’re worn out from washing. I like being in my comfort zone, but when I’m forced out of my established ruts and have to try new things, I experience a wondrous feeling of freedom and discovery!
- Bloom and grow. I try NOT to grow any wider when I’m on vacation – it’s difficult when every corner grocery has caramel shortbread (Millionaire Bars), Battenberg Cakes, Meat and Fisherman’s Pies, pâté, amazing cheeses, and oddles of creamy Cadbury milk chocolate delights. But I love widening my perspectives, learning new things and stretching myself. It’s so easy to become stagnant. Letting a Chinook wind blow in and infiltrate my mind is like spring coming to the soul after a long hard winter.
- Meet new people. Stir the pot. I think the older we get, the harder it is to meet new people and make new friends. Most of us have lived in the same place for quite some time, and the people already have their established circles. Adult children and grandkids occupy people’s time after a certain age, and the sad truth is, I’m often so worn out after I do what I have to that I’m too tired to want to get out and socialize. When I do go out, I have to think long and hard about what we have to talk about because we’ve already spoken about everything under the sun at least a million times. But when I’m on vacation, every day is an opportunity to participate in new conversations about different topics, to hear what different people from other countries think and feel about things. It’s a great way to not only liven things up, but to gain a new perspective. I love listening and learning from the “chance” people I meet when we’re traveling.
- Strip away the mundane and set your sights on the extraordinary. Letting go of old things is almost a requirement for being able to embrace new things. If you’re clutching at what you have, you can’t open your hands and accept something new. If you’re always looking down, you’ll never catch sight of a rainbow. If you don’t walk away from your work or your possessions, your family, or whatever it is that tethers you to the ground, you will likely never fly, accomplish your dreams, or sail off to uncharted waters.
- Let your senses be reawakened. Open your eyes. I’ve written several articles urging people to look for the beauty in their own backyard. It’s a wonderful thing to do. But the fact is, after looking at the same garden or flowering tree or porch swing every day for a quarter of a century, it’s easy to get desensitized to even the most lovely scene. Traveling, seeing different sights and fresh images, and taking the time to walk about and relish the beauty in unfamiliar locations not only jumpstarts my creativity, it makes me notice things through fresh eyes.
If you haven’t taken a good long vacation lately, I highly recommend that you find a way to get away. For me, escaping the familiar and journeying to unknown realms is the best way to rejuvenate.
(As you read this, Sherrie and her husband, Mark, are on their way back to Scotland to enjoy a much-anticipated vacation. Watch for Sherrie’s next book, DAYBREAK, a sequel to NIGHT & DAY, coming from Indigo Sea Press in July. All photos are from our home and previous vacations to Scotland, Romania, Kentucky, and England.)
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I love this interview done by Pat Bertram when Sweet William was released.
Hi, Sherrie. I’m thrilled you have a new book published. What is your book, Sweet William, about?
On the outside, Sweet William is about castles, kilts, and cows. It’s about sweet vs. savory – in the kitchen, and in the bedroom. It’s about family, friends and bull semen. On the inside, Sweet William is about doing the right thing, even when your heart is screaming at you to do the complete opposite. It’s about the good ones dying and the ones who irritate you no end still hanging on and refusing to go away. It’s about the unthinkable, the impossible, having a life you love and being asked to give it all up and move to an alternate universe on the other side of the globe because there is no other option.
It all begins when Minnesota farm boy, William McKnight, and sassy Scot, Lyndsie Morris, are forced to…
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Blue Belle Books... a Blog by Author Sherrie Hansen 